We Passed Upon the Stair
by PinkFreud
Summary: Ten has a brief and strange reunion with an old acquaintance after the TARDIS brings him to a museum in Germany. One shot.


**This is an odd, very short one-shot, inspired by Nirvana's cover of David Bowie's ''The Man Who Sold the World''. For whatever reason, when I hear the song I picture Loki and the Doctor, not really sure why. In terms of _Dr. Who_, this fic takes place after ''Doomsday''.**

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The Doctor's hearts clenched and twisted painfully, a feeling beyond hollowness carving into him. He kept one foot in front of the other as he flashed his psychic paper at the museum guards, who then granted him access. Why had the TARDIS brought him here? Why Germany? Why a museum? Rose had loved museums. He could take her to every pivotal moment in history, let her touch it and breathe it and live it, and yet she would still want to spend a quiet afternoon wandering about through the dim marble hallways, marvelling at dead things behind glass, dried out ideas of things, so old...so... There were some moments that he was sure he'd give up the rest of his lives just to be able to spend a few more minutes with her, proper minutes, where he could touch her and breathe her in, all her yellow-and-pinkness shining around him, her tongue between her teeth, laughing and grabbing at his arm.

_Don't think about it_, he chastised himself. It always hurt to lose a companion. The pain eased eventually. But Rose had been so much more than just a companion, and they had both known it, but he'd never, ever been able to tell her. This was going to hurt for a very long time.

There appeared to be some sort of grand event going on, the security had definitely been increased, everyone was dressed very elegantly, and hurried wait staff carrying trays rushed by. Still a kind of apprehension hung distinctly in the air, though most everyone the Doctor passed was oblivious to it. It was subtle, like the hair rising up on the back of your neck. The familiar chill of something that didn't belong, creeping and sliding its way around, infiltrating. And then at the edges of that eerie sensation there came a sound, light on the air, undetectable by human hearing. It was a hum, a pulse, the sound of barely contained power coiled tightly like a spring, waiting to be released. This was interesting, the Doctor thought, almost grateful for something to distract him from the sudden flood of regret, the memory of her smile and her hair. Yes, he was thankful for this sound. And so, he followed it.

Ducking into a hallway, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to gain him access to the ''No Admittance: Staff Only'' stairwell. Each footstep echoed heavily. Then, the sound was met with that of another pair of feet slowly descending, and the humming increased along with their arrival. The Doctor looked up as a figure rounded the staircase onto his floor. A strange feeling of familiarity licked tauntingly at him, and then only increased as the other man's face came into view. He was tall and lean and pale, a cold, thin beauty in his severe features. Dreadful power radiated in waves from him. The kind that makes your insides tremble. That feeling of foreboding, the false calm before the storm, before hell is unleashed.

''Loki!'' the Doctor exclaimed disbelievingly, the word echoed softly throughout the stairwell. The adopted Jotun-born son of Odin was supposedly lost. ''I heard that you fell into the void,'' he said, narrowing his eyes at the Asgardian, studying him. There was something amok in Loki's aura, and the Doctor couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it wasn't good. And his eyes—they shone an almost painfully bright blue, as though he was being immolated, burned from the inside out. Nothing came back from hell unchanged for the worse, and gods were no exception. Everything succumbed to the Void.

''And yet here I am,'' responded Loki in a deceptively silky voice. ''Surely you've seen stranger things, Traveler.'' He moved to pass the Doctor, who started ''Wait—hang on a minute...'' his gaze drifted down to the gold cane that Loki was holding, then quickly snapped up to meet his eyes. ''However did you get out, I wonder...out of the Void?'' the Doctor murmured, and Loki glanced at him with a cutting, dead stare, yet remained silent.

''Ah, I see...'' the Doctor continued. ''Something pulled you out. Something awful and extremely powerful, and you've made an alliance with it, to save yourself. What are you planning? What's going to happen at this museum tonight?''

''Nothing for you to be concerned with, I'm sure,'' Loki said coldly. ''I'm simply here for the culture.''

''What _is _that sound, by the way? I can hear it, it's almost shrieking. An energy hum...I haven't heard it in so very long...''

''Best to forget it, old friend.'' the god's voice indicated that he was very serious. ''But enough about _me._'' His lips curved upwards in an imitation of a smile. ''What have you been up to? Still roaming round the universe? It's been quite some time...several faces ago. And I must say, you seem...older. Rougher around the edges, if you will.''

''It has been quite some time,'' the Doctor agreed in a slightly chilly tone. ''But that's nothing more time won't fix.''

''You've lost something, haven't you?'' Loki's eyes searched the Doctor's, probing for some sort of hidden answer.

''We all lose something along the way.'' Dismissively, the Doctor waved a hand in the air. His voice was crisp, like the sound of paper tearing.

''No. Not me.''

''If I had to wager a guess, I might say that rather, you've _gained_ something. But not something good.'' The Doctor moved even closer to Loki, who took a small step back. ''You're carrying something. Something dangerous, catastrophic even. Inside of you. It's possessed you—I can see it.'' He stared deeply. ''It's...death.''

For just a fraction of a moment, that weird too-blue glow seemed to retreat from Loki's eyes, and the god looked almost afraid. Then that fear was wiped away as swiftly as it had come and was replaced with a toothy, almost predatory smile that bothered the Doctor incredibly. The ability to use a god as little more than a puppet—that was something you didn't run into every millenia. There was an incredibly powerful, incredibly malevolent force at work behind Loki's reappearance, and behind his eyes as well, it seemed. The Doctor was overcome by an acute rush of dread.

''Now, while this has been an...interesting reunion, I'm afraid that I really must be going. I'm expected.''Loki brushed past the Doctor, and then was gone.


End file.
